Off-roaders ride through an Off-Highway Vehicle area near Twentynine Palms, Calif.

By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

Clashes over the sport of off-roading are becoming more violent for riders, property owners and law enforcement officers as conflicts about the use of all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs) escalate, federal officials, landowners and advocacy groups say.

Property owners across the country report that they have been threatened and their homes vandalized by off-road-vehicle users. In Nevada, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, rangers say riders have punched them or charged them with their vehicles.

Riders also are becoming victims. In June, 13-year-old Nicholas Parisot of Wilton, Conn., died of neck injuries after riding his two-wheel dirt bike on private property and hitting a rope tied between trees. Wilton police are investigating whether someone sabotaged the trail, says Capt. Michael Lombardo.

"We see a growing amount of aggressive and lawless behavior taking place on off-road vehicles," says Harrison Schmitt, executive director of Responsible Trails America, a national group that calls for off-road vehicles to use designated trails. "We're starting to see people tired of the abuse and beginning to take the law into their own hands."

Off-road vehicles include two-wheel dirt bikes, dune buggies and four-wheel-drive trucks, which enthusiasts use for work and play.

"On weekends and holidays, (riders) want to come out to the desert and enjoy themselves. They go out as a group with family and friends," says Ray Pessa, 62, a Yucca Valley, Calif., resident and dune buggy rider. "We go out there and ride responsibly and legally, and be good ambassadors of our sport."

Not enough land to ride

Disputes about ATV use have been happening for years, often over environmental damage, but an imbalance in supply and demand appears to have intensified the clashes, officials say. There are more people riding ATVs and fewer places for them to ride.

In 2007, 4.7 million off-highway vehicle users visited public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), compared with 3.8 million in 2004, the agency reports.

At the same time, the U.S. government has stepped up efforts to restrict ATVs to assigned routes rather than allow them to ride cross-country. Development of rural areas has also gobbled up private land formerly used by off-roaders.

"We have more off-highway vehicle users and less lands. It's simple math. … It creates tensions," says Bob Ratcliffe, chief of the BLM's national recreation and visitor services program.

Among recent incidents:

•An ATV rider punched a Las Vegas BLM ranger in the face in May after the ranger stopped him for riding illegally on public land, says national chief ranger Jason Caffey. "The violence on public lands is going up," he says.

•Rancher Brandie Dunn in Kern County, Calif., says ATV riders have harassed her cattle. A few months ago, she says, a trespassing off-roader threatened her and told her he had guns. "Talk about the Wild West," she says.

•Seth Mesoras, a wildlife conservation officer in Westmoreland County for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, says clashes are "definitely" rising. Over the summer, he found booby traps set for riders near Loyalhanna Lake, including fishing line with hooks dangling from tree limbs.

"I'm not only trying to stop the ATVs from riding down there," he says, "I'm also trying to protect them from getting hurt."

Making lives 'miserable'

Ed Waldheim, an off-roader and president of the California Trail Users Coalition, which advocates for off-road vehicle users, says a small portion of riders don't follow rules. "We call them the 10 percenters. It's the 10 percenters making our lives miserable," he says.

Waldheim and other off-road advocates agree that the core problem fueling conflicts is land access. "People move into an area and discover there are people who have been riding trail systems for 20 years," says Jim Keeler, the BLM's California off-highway vehicle coordinator.

In Southern California, property owners and others frustrated by illegal off-road vehicle use created Community ORV Watch, and the San Bernardino County chapter was among the voices calling for government action.

In 2006, San Bernardino County adopted an ordinance that requires off-road-vehicle riders on private property to have written permission from owners. The most controversial provision requires people planning a gathering of 10 or more riders to get a permit from the county for $155.

From January through October this year, the county issued 554 warnings and 209 citations, the vast majority for riding on private property without permission, says Randy Rogers, chief of code enforcement. Last year, the county issued 356 warnings and 133 citations, he says.

Despite enforcement and an aggressive education campaign, there's still tension. "We've found two-by-fours with nails driven in them" in the ground, Rogers says.

Phil Klasky, 55, with Community ORV Watch, believes he is a victim of harassment because of his activism.

Klasky owns 15 acres in Wonder Valley, east of Twentynine Palms. In April, he confronted a trespassing off-roader. "He got on his machine and tried to run me down," he says. "As I'm jumping out of the way, he reaches out and slugs me on the head."

A few months earlier, swastikas were painted at the entrance to his driveway, he says. Klasky is Jewish. "This place is supposed to be my retreat and where I'm going to retire," he says. "It's turned into a battleground."

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